"My partner and I swapped porn for erotic audio stories. Here's how that went down."

Cuddling on the bed together with the lights off, my partner and I tried to keep a straight face while a woman with a husky, sensual voice described her racy encounter with the man who makes her morning latte.

“We were kissing on my bed, and he started touching me really softly, slow at first, then he started moving his hands down my body. His hands skimmed my thighs, then he dipped two fingers in my pussy… my breath caught every time he moved in… and out…”

Holy crap. Righto, this was not what I was expecting when I informed my partner we’d be listening to some erotic audio stories to try and ‘mix things up’.

A few weeks ago, I came across an account on Instagram called Dipsea for an erotic audio book app. Well, sexy audio stories, more accurately. Naturally, I signed up immediately, because honestly, porn is giving me the sh*ts and has been for a long time.

You can watch a little preview of a Dipsea audio story below, but be warned, it’s sexay. Post continues after video.

The female founders behind Dipsea get it. It’s the whole reason they created their app. We know the female orgasm is a complicated and stubborn thing, and we know this because not enough of us are having them. We also know 90 per cent of women use “mental framing” (or scenario conjuring) to get turned on, a study from female pleasure education app OMGYes and The Kinsey Institute found.

And mainstream porn often just doesn’t get female fantasies.

So, one Monday night after watching Game of Thrones (you fit it in when you can, OK?), I forced my partner to lay on the bed with me and listen to a few erotic audio stories. In the name of research, of course.

Here’s how it went down.

What is Dipsea and how does it work?

 

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A post shared by Dipsea (@dipseastories) on Mar 27, 2019 at 11:32am PDT

The best way to describe Dipsea is, it’s the 2019 version of the erotica extracts from magazines I’d devour in secret under the covers in high school when my parents thought I’d gone to sleep. Or, the more accessible version of 50 Shades of Grey, which is near-impossible to read in secret on your way to work.

Designed with women in mind by female co-founders Gina Gutierrez and Faye Keegan, Dipsea is an audio app for sexual wellness filled with short, sexy audio stories.

Think erotica stories under 20 minutes across a bunch of different genres, perspectives, preferences and genders – quickies, classic fantasies, open relationships, queer stories and dominant/submissive relationships are just some the scenarios played out.

The whole idea of Dipsea is to “turn you on, get you in the mood and spark imagination”, and to meet women wherever they are, whether it’s solo in bed, trying something different with a partner, getting ready for a date, or as the app suggests, even turning your brain off on the way home from work. Yeah. Along with the sexy, narrative-based stories and series, Dipsea also offers non-narrative guided audio on self love, dirty talk basics, mapping pleasure and sexual taboos.

The app itself is discreet, but also really beautiful to look at. Each story comes with a quirky artwork, a short synopsis, keywords to let you know what you're in for (e.g: Her + Him, Phone Sex, Moody OR Her + Her, Crush, Fantasy), and a rating of how steamy things are going to get.

There are a few stories you can listen to for free after downloading the app, or you can try a seven-day free trial to unlock all the categories, after which you can subscribe monthly ($13.99) or pay an one-off annual price ($72.99).

Now, onto the pervy stuff.

Dipsea review - what's it like?

I'll admit, I gave Dipsea a bit of a, erm, solo run one sunny afternoon before asking my partner if he'd be keen.

After signing up for a seven-day free trial, I laid back and decided to give one of the featured short stories a go - Salty, a 12-minute story marked as 'Her + Her, Toy Play, Explorative'. Each episode comes with a How Hot? scale, and Salty sits at a five flames out of five.

"I've fantasised about my friend Layla for months, and now she standing in my kitchen,' the description began. Um OK lady, I'm picking up what you're putting down.

"The energy between us has a nervous shimmer to it. I want to make her feel incredible, and I think that's exactly why she's here."

And so, I closed my eyes and let the story of the mystery woman's encounter with Layla wash over me. The first thing that struck me was how 'real' the story felt. Set on a scorching summer afternoon in New York, the sounds of the city immediately conjured images of Carrie Bradshaw bra-less in a white ribbed singlet, beads of sweat running down her neck. It doesn't hurt Layla was described as having curly hair, 'extra frizzy in the humidity'.

Long story short, Layla and the narrator end up going back to her apartment, they do body shots of tequila because there's no other booze in the house, and go down on one another. The level of detail is insane, but the narrative around it and being able to imagine the scene in my head sufficiently turned me on. No one needs more details on that bit.

Listening to Dipsea with a partner was a completely different experience.

Rather than dropping our dacks and listening to the audio stories as foreplay, we decided to lay in bed, fully clothed and just listen to the stories with the idea that sex could happen.

We started with an 11-minute story called Extra Hot about a woman remembering a sexy encounter she'd had with the barista at her favourite coffee shop. This one was four flames out of five, and featured a Her + Him couple, as well as the words 'Crush' and 'Sweet'. Nothing too hectic for our first dip into audio erotica.

I forced my partner to cuddle up to me - he was laying dead straight on the bed as if he were about to do a sleep study - and closed my eyes to let my mind follow the story. A few minutes later, I opened my eyes to see my partner, eyes wide open, staring up at the ceiling. Clearly, the story wasn't having the same effect on him as it was on me.

When it got to the bit where the woman described how the hot barista used his fingers to make her orgasm, we both cracked up laughing. Something about the word 'pussy' seemed hilarious, but probably more in a 'what the heck are we doing' nervous laugh kind of way. At the end, I asked him if he felt turned on. He said no. I was disappointed, but determined, so we listened to a second story about Her + Her dominance with a spicy five flame rating called Let Me See You. This one was only seven minutes long, but by the end, I was hoping for some action with my partner.

Still, he said it just didn't do it for him like traditional porn would. What did, though, we seeing me turned on, which did the job just fine.

Psst - we had a good ole chat about porn and what we're all watching on the Sealed Section podcast. Get it in your ears below, post continues after audio.

The erotic audio stories experiment with my partner wasn't a fail, even though he said he'd probably not do it again unless I really wanted to. For me, it gave me an insight into what turns me on and why. For example, the only kind of traditional porn I find appealing is lesbian or bisexual encounters, mostly because many of them are more emotional or focus on female pleasure over a big, veiny penis.

But, the hetero couple stories on Dipsea were just as arousing because they tell a story with characters that have real emotions, something that doesn't always come across through the 'f*ck me harder's and 'you're so big's of mainstream porn.

I'd recommend Dipsea to anyone - single, married, dating, same-sex couple - wanting to try a different, yet highly effective, sexual experience. It's almost more fun on your own, anyway.

A word of caution, though: listen on the train at your own risk.

To find out more about Dipsea and learn about how it works at, visit: www.dipseastories.com.

Would you ever try an erotic audio app? If you have,what did you think?